I heard some of these people have spent their entire life savings on this thing. According to the Bible, no man or angel will know the time and date of the end so I really doubt these people. And this church is worth $72 MILlION! Its leaders are freaking scammers IMO.

The guy who started all of this hype is Harold Camping, the owner of FamilyRadio. The radio company is worth $117 million as of late 2008. They have spent $1 million alone trying to advertise this apocalyptic message across the world, in over 84 countries.

Harold predicted the end of the world in 1994. This time he says he's for certain.

By Camping's understanding, the Bible was dictated by God and every word and number carries a spiritual significance. He noticed that particular numbers appeared in the Bible at the same time particular themes are discussed.

The number 5, Camping concluded, equals "atonement." Ten is "completeness." Seventeen means "heaven." Camping patiently explained how he reached his conclusion for May 21, 2011.

"Christ hung on the cross April 1, 33 A.D.," he began. "Now go to April 1 of 2011 A.D., and that's 1,978 years."

Camping then multiplied 1,978 by 365.2422 days - the number of days in each solar year, not to be confused with a calendar year.

Next, Camping noted that April 1 to May 21 encompasses 51 days. Add 51 to the sum of previous multiplication total, and it equals 722,500.

Camping realized that (5 x 10 x 17) x (5 x 10 x 17) = 722,500.

Or put into words: (Atonement x Completeness x Heaven), squared.

"Five times 10 times 17 is telling you a story," Camping said. "It's the story from the time Christ made payment for your sins until you're completely saved.

"I tell ya, I just about fell off my chair when I realized that," Camping said.

In other words, its called "massaging the numbers to make them fit your agenda"